A final judgment recently rendered in WM. Wrigley Jr. Company v. Roberto Conde, et al., is nothing short of a cautionary tale and a powerful reminder to cannabis companies: Parody is NOT a defense to trademark infringement in this type of commercial context. The parties We all know Wrigley – it’s a titan in the
When going into business—whether cannabis or otherwise— the first step is to create a business entity. (This seems obvious but still eludes many in the cannabis industry.) One of the principal purposes of establishing a business entity to limit the personal liability exposure of the founders. Typically, the business entity itself and not the investors,
While patent protection has been generally available for some time now, we’ve covered why patent protection has been largely limited for the cannabis industry (see this post). However, that isn’t going to stop patent infringement actions from reaching cannabis businesses, as can be seen from a recent case filed by a greenhouse builder. The complaint
The Texas Supreme Court recently upheld the state’s smokable hemp ban. This is bad news for the smokable hemp industry inside and outside of Texas. Today, we’ll look at what happened. As our readers know, the federal 2018 Farm Bill classified “hemp” as an agricultural product and removed hemp from schedule I of the federal
On the heels of our recent intellectual property webinar, we received some requests for real world examples of how trademark infringement litigation plays out in the courts. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you see things), trademark infringement litigation cases are filed on an almost daily basis throughout the country, and this one filed this
In almost every cannabis litigation webinar we’ve done, and in many of our past posts discussing breach of cannabis contracts (the general breakdown of this claim is here), we’ve stressed the importance of memorializing good cannabis business agreements – in writing – to save yourself from potential or protracted litigation down the line. Still, even
High profile lawsuits to end cannabis prohibition are nothing new. We’ve covered efforts going back several years, though none of these has succeeded. A recently announced attempt, though, may be the best chance yet– especially given the changing environment with cannabis legalization in so many states; and especially given Constitutional jurisprudence relevant to those changes.
Given the growth of both the cannabis industry and international trade, it’s more important than ever to understand the basics, and challenges of, purchasing cannabis-related goods overseas. Root Sciences, a cannabis extraction company, has been learning this the hard way. Last week, it initiated an appeal in the Federal Circuit last week after their lawsuit
Civil litigation in cannabis, like any other industry, usually proceeds in a predicable order. First, a complaint is filed and served. This kicks off the lawsuit and compels a defendant to file an Answer to avoid a default judgment. Second, the parties conduct written discovery: i.e. gathering relevant documents, identifying potential witnesses, and serving interrogatories and
As a cannabis intellectual property litigator, part of my job is to help clients make cost-benefit and risk analyses. My colleagues and I have written several posts about the defense of “parody” in cannabis intellectual property litigation, and why it’s a very specific defense that people tend to overstretch in most cases. While that remains
